OK.  So maybe it was just me, but I noticed that in the second and third rounds of the 2009 draft the Lions picked players at a position (S and WR) and the Pats picked a player at the same position one pick later. I found that interesting at the time and I wanted to go back and see who came out on top with those picks.further, I thought the Pats were very quick with their selection--which I took to mean that we did not grab their player.

Round 2

33 Louis Delmas FS WMU

34 Patrick Chung SS UO

Round 3

82 Derrick Williams WR PSU

83 Brandon Tate WR UNC

So lets go to the books:

Delmas - 15 games, 94 tck, 1 sack, 1 safety, 2 ints for 130 yards and 1 TD

Chung - 16 games, 37 tck, 2 sacks, 1 int for 2 yards

No contest here.  Delmas was far and away a better pick. I am not saying Chung won't be better later in his career and it should be noted that Brandon Merriweather (who started in front of Chung) had similar numbers to Delmas. Still, I think the Pats would love to have grabbed Delmas over Chung given the chance.

Williams vs Tate

Williams - 11 games, 6 recs for 52 yards, 1 rush for 4 yards, 2 fumbles - 1 lost, 22 returns for 449 yards (20.4 yard average)

Tate - 2 games, 1 rush for 11 yards

Both were similar players coming out of college; productive WRs who were considered great return men. Both had question marks; Williams had a bad combine (some said due to the flu) and Tate had a terrible injury to his knee that shortened his last season in college. It is hard to tell if either player is better at this point. Williams played more, but he was not a very good player. He was often removed as the return man just to get the job back because the alternates were no better. Williams showed none of the zip and elusiveness that he had in college. This could be due to the schemes that Kwan was running. It could also be because the combine numbers were accurate.

Tate, on the other hand, only played 2 games because he started the year injured.  Once he got on the field, he lasted 2 games before getting reinjured and going on IR. Maybe the pre-draft knocks on him were as right as it was on Williams. It is hard to compare the two when one has not made it to the field and the other sucked ass when he got on the field. I call the 3rd round WRs a wash.